Le Ragose, a now famous estate, is located North of Verona, in the town of Negrar (Veneto region), at the highest point of Valpolicella Classica (1,148 feet). The winery is composed of 32 hectares, 18 planted as vineyards. The altitude is from 250 to 400 meters high.
Le Ragose was purchased in 1969 by an oenologist named Arnaldo Galli, and his wife Marta. Due to the high elevation, Marta, recognized the need for a separate designation for the hills to distinguish them from the valley flat land. Marta fought for and obtained the designation Classico. Within a few years, Marta became one of the most important personalities in the Italian wine world. She was one of the founders of the organization “Women in Wine” and founded VinItaly. In 1990, she was elected “Wine producer of the World” from La Morra.
Today, their sons Paolo, graduated in Business Management, and Marco, graduated in Agriculture with a thesis on “Microvinification of local varieties”, are still researching and experimenting to produce the highest quality wines. Marco, is both the oenologist and agronomist of Le Ragose. Paolo’s daughter Marta, graduated in management, is the third generation of Le Ragose.
For grape production at Le Ragose, a pergola system is used. This method protects the grapes from the sun, the rain and the storms and it is perfect for the production of local varieties such as Corvina, Corvinone and Rondinella.
Below the surface there is both brown clay, red clay and volcanic soils that are rich with minerals. The deeper level of soil is “Arenaria Eocenica”. This soil comes from the “Eocene” geological era and it works like a sponge, keeping humidity in the roots. This is one of the reasons why at Le Ragose, irrigation is not needed.
At Le Ragose, the respect for place, soil and tradition is fundamental. Traditional and local varieties of Corvina, Corvinone and Rondinella make up the majority of the wine produced. In addition, other local, older varieties such as Molinara, Oseleta, Dindarella, Casetta, Spigamonti make up about 10% of the final blend. Since 1969, the Galli family has always focused on the production of quality wines.
